Some 150,000 Rally in Belgrade Behind the 'Student List' Ahead of Serbia's October 25 Parliamentary Election
BELGRADE — About 150,000 people filled Slavija Square in Serbia's capital Belgrade on the evening of October 22 for a rally backing the opposition alliance 'Student List – Students Win,' ahead of the parliamentary election on October 25, AFP reported. The crowd estimate came from the Archive of Public Gatherings, a nonprofit group.
Rally participants demanded fresh elections and accountability for corruption, voicing anger at more than 14 years in power by the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) of veteran leader Aleksandar Vucic. The protest movement, now nearly two years old, grew out of the November 2024 collapse of a railway station canopy in Novi Sad that killed 16 people, which students and citizens blame on government corruption and failed construction oversight. Civic groups warned in early October that the situation could escalate after October 25 if electoral fraud and ruling-party pressure continued. Vucic held a rally of his own supporters elsewhere the same day.
The vote is seen as a key test for the ruling coalition, with implications for Serbia's path toward European Union membership and its domestic politics. (GSM, based on AFP reporting)
Source: GSM · America
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 贝尔格莱德 Slavija 广场（资料图）。照片：Œil de verre，CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Slavija Square, Belgrade (file photo). Photo: Œil de verre, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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